If you’ve missed a rent payment, you’re in 'arrears'. This means you owe rent to your landlord.

Talk to your landlord (or lettings agent if you rent through an agency) straight away. You should do this even if you’re waiting for a benefit payment to come through. Pay what you can and ask them for more time to pay the rent back.

Don’t ignore the situation. Your landlord can start the eviction process straight away if you miss a payment and any of the following have happened:

you’ve been late with rent before

you’re already in arrears with your rent

the fixed term period of your tenancy has ended - if your tenancy is an assured shorthold tenancy

In these cases, the court will normally grant your landlord a ‘possession order’ very quickly and you’ll be told to leave within 14 days.

There are different rules if your landlord is a local authority or housing association.

Rent arrears are a ‘priority debt’. This means you need to pay them before debts like credit cards.

If your landlord won’t agree to a repayment plan - or they don't reply

You should pay what you’ve offered anyway and keep a record of each payment (with a bank statement or receipt, for example).

If your landlord won’t accept your payments, or you can't contact them (because they're overseas for example), try to put the money to one side or keep it in a bank account.

You should keep a record of how much you’ve tried to pay and when you’ve tried to pay it. This might help you later if your landlord takes you to court.

Pay your arrears out of your benefits

If you get benefits, ask your landlord if they’ll let you pay using ‘third party deductions’ - these are regular payments that come out of benefits like Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Universal Credit.